"I fight for beauty. The Gods gave us two gifts to entertain ourselves before we die - the thrill of fucking a woman who wants to be fucked, and the thrill of killing a man who wants to kill you."
When Daario Naharis proudly delivers this speech in one of his early scenes it tells us everything we need to know about the character of the man and perhaps, his future intentions. This opening dialogue wasn't idle chit chat, but a crystal clear window into the long haired dandy's soul. These were the words of a true Aesthete [the fops of the 19th century who studied 'beauty' and were obsessed with attempting to define it - not people with dodgy toe hygiene, although I can't imagine the Second Sons have access to decent footwear].
Aesthetes were identified by their love of unregulated pleasure, their pursuit of the beautiful and the desire to indulge the senses. They loved flowers [one of Daario's chief interests], perfumes, absinthe, music, heroin.
If you were catching a flight with them at Birmingham Airport they'd likely miss their plane and be found pissed in the duty free shop, prostrate on the floor with Calvin Klein testers lodged up their nasal passages.
"We had philosophical differences....over your beauty, it meant more to me than it did to them....i'm the simplest man you'll ever meet - I only do what I want to do. - Daario Naharis"
In Walter Pater's treatise 'The Renaissance' Pater stresses that the true Aesthete sees life as fleeting and momentary, as sand in the hourglass, and that they should follow their passions before it's too late. Cram in as much pleasure as possible. Do what you want to do. Avoid forming habits, for the formulaic kills life, dulls the senses, instead seek to test new opinions, try new things and most importantly desire the beautiful as that is the highest of endeavours.
Patter was vilified for these views. It was deemed that they promoted amorality and reckless hedonism. Should we be teaching the kappa-clad, 18 year old single mother of two to be out on the tiles downing shots of cheeky vimto off a barman's bare arse? On a school night!? Or would such a figure have a responsibility to act less selfishly? To look after her children.
Should we admire Daaro Naharis when he states that he only does what he wants to do, or is this a damaging and callous mindset to have?
Like all great Aesthetes, Daario Naharis has deferred to beauty above all other considerations. Were he a man of loyalty he might have fought for his employers, Yunkai. Were he a man of morality he wouldn't have become a sellsword in the first place, instead he may have opted for a 'just' occupation such as farmer or priest.
Yet Daario fights for beauty, and has declared himself loyal to the 'fittest', 'sexiest', in short 'most beautiful' leader in the race for the Iron Throne - Daenerys. He cares not for her anti-slavery politics, nor her birthright claim of Westeros, he's just drawn to the beautiful allure of the nymph-like Khaleesi.
Is this such an irrational way to live?
If South Korea declared war on Italy and you enlisted to fight for the Italians because you prefer their women, would that make you mad?
In our world, perhaps.
In Game of Thrones Daario merely embodies one branch of philosophy in a maelstrom of competing ideologies.
There is however, a huge problem with this mindset. A problem that Aesthetes have struggled with since Longinus of Ancient Greece.....beauty is totally subjective.
There are some people out there who stare at their televisions and touch themselves over Yara Greyjoy and aren't interested in Daenerys. There are some out there who lick their laptop monitors with lust whenever Walder Frey's daughters line up for parade. There are those who long for Loras Tyrell. Others for Tyrion - dwarf fetish enthusiasts. Dirty cows.
Two men can listen to the same song. Where one hears beauty, the other hears f***ing Nickleback.
Yet people do, and people get angry when you disagree with their judgements and they end up dismissing you as 'tasteless' or having an inferior intellect.
We all know somebody like this. Those ignorant enough to suggest that their taste in music or comedy is 'superior' to the taste of others.
Those fans of The Smiths who would sneer at EDM as being 'inferior'.
Yet Immanuel Kant stated that EDM is infinitely more beautiful than anything The Smiths or any guitar band has ever created.
Kant identified three areas of taste: the agreeable, the just and the beautiful.
The agreeable is that which can be measured by a concept, eg 'this chair is soft', 'this steak is tender'.
The just is that which forms society's ethical code and acts as the basis for its morality.
The beautiful is that which cannot be measured by a concept, Kant uses an example of a flower.
Whereas some shitty Smiths song, or Arctic Monkeys track is 'agreeable' in that acts to 'educate the audience about life in a council house', the song has a purpose, like a chair. The EDM track has no purpose, it merely floats around on a higher plain, listless and beautiful, unblemished by meaning, like a flower.
If Daario Naharis was in HMV he would almost certainly pick up Swedish House Mafia's greatest hits, before spitting on a Radiohead album.
And under Kant's philosophy we can see why he chose to fight for Daenerys.
The Lannisters are agreeable, they'll pay you in gold and give you castles. Stannis is just, he offers religious spiritual purity and salvation.
But Daenerys is beautiful, floating around Essos being attractive, seemingly purposeless. It's easy to see why the Aesthete would be drawn towards this true beauty.
Ultimately, however, all beauty fades, and the Aesthete must not be trusted. Should Daenerys stock her army with those who only follow her for such superficial reasons she will undoubtedly find trouble as the wrinkles crinkle across her cheeks, her blonde locks turn grey and her posture starts to fatten.
Then the fickle Aesthetes move on, in their never ending pursuit of beauty - perhaps to Sansa or whoever next they deem to be beauty's ambassador.
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